River scene, with its image of nude bathers beside a river, recalls Long’s By tranquil waters (cat 3). Similar to that earlier work, this watercolour conveys a sense of timeless tranquillity and the pagan freedom of a golden age, the nude in harmony with nature.

Sunlight falls on the trees and on the banks of the river, and the sky and trees are reflected in the water. The figures are barely hinted at, and yet they form an important focal point in the composition. The soft pastel palette evokes the warmth of a hot summer day, and a dreamy idyll.

River scene is characterised by an uncanny sense of design. Long used the masses of the trees and shadows to create a kind of pattern across the surface of the sheet, dark against light, whilst retaining an obviously representational subject. It has some of the spare elegance and lyricism of the watercolours of the British artist John Sell Cotman, whom Long admired. Indeed, he said of Cotman’s painting that it was ‘classic English work in landscape’.

River scene, with its image of nude bathers beside a river, recalls Long’s By tranquil waters (cat 3). Similar to that earlier work, this watercolour conveys a sense of timeless tranquillity and the pagan freedom of a golden age, the nude in harmony with nature.

Sunlight falls on the trees and on the banks of the river, and the sky and trees are reflected in the water. The figures are barely hinted at, and yet they form an important focal point in the composition. The soft pastel palette evokes the warmth of a hot summer day, and a dreamy idyll.

River scene is characterised by an uncanny sense of design. Long used the masses of the trees and shadows to create a kind of pattern across the surface of the sheet, dark against light, whilst retaining an obviously representational subject. It has some of the spare elegance and lyricism of the watercolours of the British artist John Sell Cotman, whom Long admired. Indeed, he said of Cotman’s painting that it was ‘classic English work in landscape’.